


Ride of Our Lives

by im_upset_3000



Series: Life is a Roller Coaster [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, James is a sweet lil puppy, Martha is awesome, Meet-Cute, amusement park au, haha help, hand holding, i'm purposely avoiding my main fic, jack flirts with everyone, rory gets ignored, slight angst sorry, they're too cute, young adult au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 18:16:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17431025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_upset_3000/pseuds/im_upset_3000
Summary: Rose goes to the amusement park with her freinds, but has never felt more alone.  Then she meets a quirky, tall, good-looking medical student with great hair who has a penchant for rambling and a lot of energy, and a friendship (or something more) blooms.





	Ride of Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> haha no i'm definently not avoiding my main fic whywouldyouthinkthat
> 
> First au so please tell me what you think!

Rose was starting to regret her decision to accompany her friends to the local amusement park. Not because it wasn’t fun, it was, but she was the only one wasn’t paired off with someone else and she was starting to get lonely. Rory never left Amy’s side, Mickey was hitting it off with Martha, and even Clara, who had started the day paired with her, had met a tall floppy-haired bloke named John and had been talking with him ever since then. They did make a cute couple, Rose admitted grumpily to herself as she followed the rest of her friends into the line for yet another big roller coaster. She did feel bad for Rory, however, as he had been practically dragged into the line by Amy, this roller coaster having a particularly steep drop. Rose watched with half-pity and half-amusement as he got more and more fidgety as they got closer. Amy didn’t notice, as she was turned around and engaged in conversation with Clara’s new friend (boyfriend?), John.

Rose leaned idly against the metal railing as she watched people in line for another ride nearby. Even with all the people around, she still felt lonely. Her previous relationships had not gone well. She dated Jimmy a few years ago when she was young and stupid, and that ended when Rose found out he had been cheating on her. After that, she had dated her best friend Mickey, but they had recently decided they were better off as friends and now he had clearly found something in Martha. Her thoughts were interrupted when she was startled by someone talking to her.

“Mind if I ride with you?” a male voice asked from right next to her. Rose jumped slightly before looking up and perceiving the most beautiful pair of eyes she’d ever seen. They were hazelnut brown with flecks of chocolate, glistening with amusement which was reflected in the happy smile he wore, the kind you that made you smile back automatically. There was a light dusting of freckles scattered across his cheeks and he had the best hair Rose had ever seen, chocolate brown like his eyes and sticking up in several directions in a way that had to be intentional. 

Rose hummed in appreciation before shaking herself halfway out of it and managing a high-pitched, “No.”

“Good,” the man continued, “Because my best friend Jack deserted me to go after some girl and I don’t have anyone else. Not that I’m surprised, I think Jack would probably pursue a pole if given half a chance. Say, did you know that the origin of the modern day roller coaster originates in 17th century Russia? Russians would freeze water over a 70-foot-tall wooden structure, effectively making an “ice ramp.” The riders were then seated in big blocks of wood and pushed down from the top to the bottom! Even the word ‘roller coaster’ in many languages is a translation of the term ‘Russian Mountain.’ ” He ended his ramble before realizing what he’d been doing and slumping his shoulders in the most adorable way possible. “I’m rambling again,” he said apologetically, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Rose, who had been watching the whole thing with a smile, affirmed.

“My step-sister Donna is always telling me I talk too much and have my head in the clouds all the time, calls me ‘Spaceman’. To be honest, I think she’s still mad about that time I blew up her toaster. It was an accident, I swear, I was just trying to upgrade the springs to- I’m doing it again aren’t I.” Rose nodded with amusement, and his shoulders slumped again. “I’m not making a great first impression, am I,” he sighed, raking a hand through his hair sheepishly. They stood there in silence for a few seconds before he composed himself and offered a hand to Rose.

“Let me introduce myself,” he said, the beginnings of a smile creeping back onto his face, “I’m James McCrimmon, and sometimes I talk too much.”

“Rose Tyler,” Rose replied, taking the offered hand with a tongue-in-teeth smile that made James’s heart skip a beat. They both got lost in each other’s eyes and their hands stayed joined for a few seconds longer than polite before they caught themselves and let go, both of them blushing and avoiding eye contact. James shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground resolutely, kicking at a pebble with the toe of his scuffed white Chucks, before a smile involuntarily spread onto his face and he caught Rose grinning at him out of the corner of his eye.

Rose took this opportunity to fully take in his appearance. He was wearing a well-worn slim brown pinstripe suit, an odd thing to be wearing at an amusement park, but he pulled it off. On his feet were Chucks she assumed used to be white, but were now more cream-colored. And he was skinny, like inhumanly skinny.

“So James,” she started, breaking the silence, “What do you do? Are you a student nearby?”

“Yeah, actually!” he responded happily, “I’m studying to be a doctor. Actually, Jack calls me ‘The Doctor’ a lot, kind of a nickname.”

“Oh no way! One of my friends here is a medical student too.”

“Really?” he asked, his voice dropping lower in intrigue, “What’s their name?”

“Martha Jones. She’s up there with my mate Mickey,” Rose supplied, pointing past Clara, John, Amy, and a very fidgety Rory to the happily chatting pair.

“Oh, Martha! Yeah, she’s brilliant.” With a flash of realization, Rose realized that this must be the guy in Martha’s class that she had described as ‘the tall, fit bloke with great hair who wears pinstripes all the time’.” They talked for several more minutes about his studies and the other students he knew. The conversation was easy and light between them, and Rose had never met someone who could make her laugh so easily.

“So your friend Jack sounds like quite the character,” she laughed.

“Oh yes,” James chuckled, “You have no idea. We became friends when I was nine, right after my parents died. He practically adopted me on the spot and has been looking out for me ever since.”

“Oh James, I’m so sorry,” Rose said gently, laying a hand on his arm in sympathy. 

James gave a small smile and gave a whispered, “Thanks,” in response. After a moment he recovered and continued with, “Anyway, Jack and Donna are basically all I’ve got. I don’t really have any other friends.”

“No girlfriend?” Rose asked a bit too eagerly before internally wincing. Real smooth, Tyler, real smooth.

“No,” he said dejectedly, “I dated this one girl, Christina her name was, but she moved on. Got bored with me I guess,” he finished. Rose felt her heart breaking at the way his head was bowed and shoulders were slumped, convinced of his low self-worth.

“How could she get bored with you?” she asked in disbelief, “I mean you’re smart, funny, sweet, good-looking, and were nice enough to come talk to me even though you didn’t need to, and if she couldn’t see that then she was an idiot who didn’t deserve you anyway,” she finished firmly, spirits lifting when James raised his head to look her in the eye, his eyes sparkling in hope and sporting a small awestruck smile.

“Really?” he breathed hopefully.

“Absolutely,” she replied confidently, keeping eye contact.

“Thanks,” he responded with slightly wet eyes and a hint of emotion creeping into his voice, “It’s been a long time since someone said something that nice to me.”

“Then it’s been far too long,” Rose replied confidently. After a few seconds James leaned in slightly, his eyes darting to her lips quickly before he swallowed heavily and leaned in farther, eyes starting to flutter shut. Rose made a split second decision and started to lean in herself when a roller coaster cart loudly whizzed across a track above them and they jumped apart, startled. 

James started to mentally kick himself. Of course she didn’t want to kiss him, they’d only met a few minutes ago! And now he’d just ruined a chance of friendship or even something more because he was so emotionally starved that he had overreacted to a simple compliment. His eyes threatened to overflow with hot, angry tears and all he wanted was to get out of here, find Jack, and go home and try to forget about this whole thing. And he would’ve, too, if they weren’t already boarding the ride. He had been so caught up in the whole conversation he didn’t even notice they had moved to the front of the line. He dutifully got on next to Rose and pulled the bar down over his head, not noticing her sad gaze on him, knowing he was beating himself up for trying to kiss her. 

“Jam-” Rose started, before cutting off mid-word with a scream when the cart shot off suddenly. James couldn’t help it and started to laugh, a genuine, belly laugh that was almost drowned out by the click-click-click of the long cart going up the track for the first hill. He only stopped suddenly when Rose grabbed his hand near the top of the hill. Her hand in his felt natural, like it was always meant to be there and he stared down at their joined hands in shock before glancing back up at Rose, mouth slightly open. When he could process what was happening, anything he was going to say was drowned out this time by him screaming as they went over the edge suddenly.

They both laughed and whooped on the rest of the way down, Rose screaming again on a sudden drop, and after a few more seconds it was over and they re-docked at the entrance. Rose almost tripped on the corner of the platform while getting off, but James caught and righted her easily before sliding his hand back into hers and giving her a shy smile. He watched with badly-contained amusement as Rory stumbled off, looking vaguely sick. Not that Amy noticed because she was still talking to John. Rose put a hand out to steady him and he nodded thanks before walking quickly towards a bench.

“Not the bravest one then?” James asked, an amused smile peeking out of the corners of his mouth.

“No, but Amy asked him to, and he’d do anything for her,” Rose explained with much the same expression. They followed the rest of Rose’s friends towards the bench that Rory was on, joined hands swinging lightly between them.

“Since your friends are going to stay over here for a while, would you want to maybe come look for Jack with me?” James asked somewhat shyly, rubbing at the back of his neck with his free hand. 

“Of course! Just let me tell them first,” Rose replied, giving him another tongue-touched smile. She called over to Martha, who looked up quickly before her eyes went wide and she did a double take. She waved to James after a moment, who waved back happily. 

“Good catch!” she yelled over to Rose before giving her a thumbs up and turning back to Mickey. Rose glanced up at James to see he was blushing hard. She cleared her throat loudly, snapping him out of it, and he jumped slightly before looking back down at her and speaking.

“Yes? Oh, right, Jack. Allons-y!” he said, tugging her towards the north end of the park. They wandered around the park for half an hour, James pointing out interesting things and rambling on about several different subjects and Rose telling him a bit more about her life and friends.

Right after they passed the fourth set of wildly excited school children, James spotted Jack near a grove of artificial trees and they walked over. Jack caught sight of them when they were several feet away and grinned widely at James as way of greeting before catching sight of Rose and doing a double take. He met them halfway and offered a hand to Rose.

“Jack Harkn-” he started with a flirtatious smile, but stopped when he caught sight of James’s fierce glare, the intensity of it actually making him stumble back a half step in surprise. “And he must really like you. Maybe another time!” Jack half-yelled as he walked the other direction, giving Rose a quick salute.

“Aaaaaaaand now he’s gone again,” James said in somewhat annoyed acceptance.

“You scared him off with your glare! Mr. Oncoming Storm, it’s no wonder,” Rose teased, facing him and tugging on his hand with her other one. She spotted her friends off in the distance at the same time James did, and he grinned down at her mischievously before yelling, “Run!” and taking off, pulling Rose behind him. They caught up to the rest of Rose’s friends, laughing and breathless. 

Clara turned around and caught sight of them, saying, ”There you are Rose! We were about to head out.” At this both of their faces fell, and Clara laughed at the sight. “I know, I don’t really want to leave him either,” she started, motioning over her shoulder at John behind her, still talking to Amy. “But it’s getting late and we’ve been here all day.” 

Rose noticed John and Amy and yelled over, “Amy, let the man go and pay attention to your poor boyfriend!” Amy rolled her eyes but stepped back from John, and Rory shot Rose a look of gratitude. James and Rose kept watching Rory and Amy for a moment before realizing what was about to happen and looking at each other sadly.

“I don’t wanna go,” James admitted, squeezing Rose’s hand gently.

“I don’t either, but it’s been a great day,” Rose sighed unhappily. They stopped for a moment to watch Clara pull John in suddenly for a kiss, laughing at the way John’s arms flailed all over before he recovered and kissed back.

“That’s sweet,” James laughed at John’s indignant, “You kissed me!” and Clara’s, “You kissed back.” He quickly dug into his pockets, pulling out paper and a pen and writing something quickly on it. “Here’s my number, that is, if you want it,” James offered shyly with one hand in his pocket, blushing slightly and overall being extremely adorable. She took it gladly and reassured him, “Of course!”

“If that’s okay, I’d also like to take you on a date. A proper one, I mean,” he stammered only a bit more confidently.

“I’d like that,” Rose agreed softly.

“Yeah?” he asked, hope gleaming brightly in his eyes.

“Yeah.” James’s whole face lit up and he let out a tiny giggle of happiness. Martha tugged on Rose’s arm as she passed, trying to pull her toward the exit but Rose brushed it off.

“One moment!” she called towards Martha, who was still watching as she walked next to Mickey in the direction of the exits. Rose took a breath, then went up on her toes and kissed James on the cheek before turning and running after her friends, Martha shooting her a knowing smile.

James slowly reached up and touched his cheek where she had kissed it before letting a smile override the shocked expression on his face. As he watched her walk out of view, he already knew.

He was in love.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it! Please leave comments, I live and breath off them.


End file.
